Electricity is used everywhere. Electric power and electric signals are required on plenty of today's products. Electricity powers motors and devices while electric signals are used to sense and control various components. It is therefore common to have both an electric power system and an electric signal system in a single apparatus.
Electric power and electric signals are generally transmitted with wires from a start position to a destination position. For instance, it could be from a power source to a light, or a fan, in the case of an electric power circuit. Conversely, in the case of electric signals, a wire can be routed from a computer board to a sensor to transmit data between the sensor and the computer board.
Many wires are commonly required on a product to route electric power and electric signals between various components. It is therefore good practice to group the wires together such that they follow a single path. It helps to protect the wires, to more easily retrieve a particular wire when assembled on the apparatus, to reduce electromagnetic fields and to define the space required to allow passage of the wires. This group of wires is called a wiring harness.
From the main portion of the harness extend secondary branches routed to connect their associated components. The wiring harness comprises electric wires, terminals fittings attached to the ends of the electric wires and other parts such as connectors, tubes, protectors, tapes, grommets, seals and the like.
As mentioned above, the wiring harness is composed of a plurality of wires. Each wire has a unique and specific purpose and needs to be identified, cut to a proper length and installed at the right position in the wiring harness. Prior to combining the wires in a harness, the insulating sheath that covers the wire is cleaned and then identification can be apposed on the wire's insulating sheath. The wire can then be exposed to UV light to dry the ink or the like previously apposed on the insulating sheath to identify the wire.
In the manufacturing of a wiring harness, the wires are typically displaced from individual wire rolls to the machine which assembles the wires together in a wiring harness. During this process, the displacement of the wires can also be stopped in order to allow various actions to be undertaken within the complete harness manufacturing process. The wires, when so becoming stationary, can be overexposed to the aforementioned UV light.
Therefore, there is a need for protecting wires, in some circumstances, during the handling thereof.